Looks like a pretty standard trump squeeze on East. Lead a trump and discard ♣7 from dummy. If East pitches a club, ♣AK sets up the jack. If East pitches a heart, a heart is ducked, and a heart ruff sets up the king and you have a club entry to cash the heart.

Looks like a pretty standard trump squeeze on East. Lead a trump and discard ♣7 from dummy. If East pitches a club, ♣AK sets up the jack. If East pitches a heart, a heart is ducked, and a heart ruff sets up the king and you have a club entry to cash the heart.

Any reason to play this way and not just lead up to the ♥K?

Yes, at the table East had over called 1NT,
and I think was marked with 7+hcp at this point.